The Tripura High Court granted bail to the accused under Sections 20 and 29 of the NDPS Act and held that there were reasonable grounds for believing that the petitioner was not guilty of the alleged offence and it may be a case where the petitioner is implicated out of some extraneous conspiracy.
Brief Facts:
The vehicle which the petitioner was driving met with an accident and got seriously damaged due to repeated dashing by another vehicle. The police after taking the vehicle to the police station found 22 kgs of cannabis and some packets of Yaba tablets inside the vehicle and accordingly registered a case under Section 20(b)(ii)(c) and Section 29 of the NDPS Act,1985. The application of the petitioner seeking anticipatory bail was rejected by the court and the petitioner was then taken to judicial custody and the petitioner then filed the present bail application.
Contentions of the Applicant:
The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner contended that the petitioner was innocent and the case was a result of a conspiracy and he was falsely implicated in the case out of political rivalry.
Contentions of the Respondent:
The learned counsel appearing for the state referred to the case diary to argue that the petitioner was a habitual drug peddler and a case was pending against him under the NDPS Act. It was further argued that the present case was not a fit case for granting bail as the petitioner was involved in trading commercial quantities of contraband goods.
Observations of the Court:
The court observed that the present case may be a case where the petitioner is implicated out of some extraneous conspiracy. The court stated that the act of repeated dashing by another vehicle shows that there was an intention to cause bodily injury to the petitioner.
The court further observed that the police officers arrived on the spot of the accident after two hours despite the police station being near it and after arriving they did not take any steps against the persons accused of trying to kill the petitioner.
The court concluded that there was a chance of keeping contraband articles inside the vehicle of the petitioners by the conspirators after looking at the suspicious acts of the police officers and the persons accused of attempting to kill the petitioner. It was further stated that there were reasonable grounds for believing that the petitioner was not guilty of the alleged offence.
The decision of the Court:
The court allowed the application and granted bail to the petitioner.
Case Title: Sri Apu Deb Vrs. The State of Tripura
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Arindam Lodh
Case No.: BA 19 OF 2023
Advocate for the Applicant: Mr. P.Sen Chowdhury
Advocate for the Respondent: Mr. Ratan Datta
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